Jose Iglesias needs to play

Plans should include more time in lineup

Sox Beat, Michael SilvermanTuesday, June 11, 2013

Credit: AP

Will Middlebrooks

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The easy part is over.

The Red Sox are a better team with Jose Iglesias on the roster than Pedro Ciriaco, so the team did the right thing by designating Ciriaco for assignment when Will Middlebrooks returned to action yesterday.

Now comes the hard part.

Right now, the Red Sox are a better team with Iglesias in the lineup every day.

Shortstop, third base, it doesn’t really matter. Iglesias is the best defender on the entire roster and he is so hot at the plate right now — .446 average, .494 on-base percentage, .581 slugging percentage in 22 games — that keeping him on the bench like he was last night for the series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays is a temporary solution at best.

The Red Sox seem to understand this.

Iglesias won’t be left on the bench to languish like Ciriaco, that’s for sure.

Playing time for Middlebrooks at third and Stephen Drew at short is going to go down, one way or another. Manager John Farrell has been jiggering and calibrating lineups like a pharmacist all season long.

The formula just got a lot more complicated.

“I think players just tell you what they’re ready for and how productive they can be and to what level they can contribute. In this case, we don’t see Jose as strictly a utility guy,” said Farrell, who said the plan calls for Iglesias to be in the lineup about three times a week. “He’s got a bright future ahead of him, but with the situation we’re in right now, he’s going to find himself at third or find himself at short or possibly at second on a given day.

“To have that type of performance and that type of confidence more than anything available to us, it makes us better.”

Drew has been as advertised in the field — steady and reliable — but his bat so far has not been good. Farrell noted he’s “streaky.”

Farrell added “we feel good about our infield depth.” That doesn’t mean he necessarily knows yet, or is ready to reveal, how to get the most out of that depth.

“This isn’t going to be strictly a matchup. There may be a left-handed matchup when (Iglesias) plays shortstop on a given day or if there’s a lefty on a day game following a night game and give Stephen a day down, that would be part of it,” said Farrell.

Like Drew, Middlebrooks is also solid defender who has been inconsistent at the plate.

Neither has the flexibility to play the other’s position, but the big difference is that one of them has a $9 million contract and a track record as a bona fide major leaguer. The other, Middlebrooks, still is in the early stages of his learning curve as a hitter. Even though Middlebrooks represents the future, he isn’t owed an uninterrupted journey.

This is where it gets delicate, and credit to Middlebrooks, he is under no delusions about the sensitivity of the situation.

“Yeah, first things first here. We want to win ballgames and win a World Series. If that means putting the best guy out there for that day, that’s what it’s about,” Middlebrooks said. “I’m here for this team. Obviously you’re here for yourself also, but I’m here for this team, and I want to win.”

Iglesias, whose major league mindset was on display while in his last stint with Triple-A Pawtucket, where he was sent to the dugout for not running out groundballs, is also on board with whatever the manager wants to do. That he added an extra day to what he heard Farrell say about his weekly usage perfectly suits his sky-high confidence and absolute certainty that he is where he needs to be.

“(Farrell’s) going to talk to me about like three days, four days a week, I don’t know. Whatever decision he makes is what I want for the team,” said Iglesias, who said he was not sure how he would stay sharp at the plate if he wasn’t playing every day. “We’ll find out. Never been in that position before, but I’ll continue to work and get in my routine like I’m going to play in the game and be ready. If something happens, I’ll be ready.”

That he’s ready is no surprise.

Ready or not, it’s the Red Sox who have to squeeze the best out of Iglesias.